De Antwerpse uitgever en courantier Maarten Binnart (ca. 1590–ca. 1653). Met een fondslijst

This article describes the life and work of Antwerp printer and newspaper publisher Maarten Binnart. Born in Thuringen and raised a Lutheran, he converted to Catholicism during or shortly after his studies at the University of Jena. He moved to Antwerp and worked for the Plantin firm as a corrector for twenty years. While working there, he completed a Latin-Dutch dictionary and also worked as a translator. He married Maria Strang, the daughter of an Irish letterfounder who had also moved to Antwerp, and built up a social network among the Antwerp printers. Members of the Moretus, Verhoeven and Verdussen families became godparents to his children. In 1636 Binnart founded his own printshop. From 1638 onwards, he published a newspaper, Den ordina- rissen postilioen, followed in 1639 by the French Le postillon ordinaire. Apart from these newspapers and related news pamphlets, Binnart published few ‘real books’. His main concern was the newspaper business. With the end of the Eighty Years War in 1648, Binnart feared that his newspapers would start operating at a loss. Perhaps this was the reason that he then invested in a tavern outside the city walls. Maarten Binnart died in 1652 or 1653, but his widow Maria Strang continued the firm and the newspaper. Their son Peeter Binnart travelled throughout Europe as an agent for Hungarian noblemen. This gave him the opportunity, in 1665, to establish a printing firm in Vienna. After 1666 there is no further record of Peeter Binnart’s activities, but the publishing house he had started survived into the 19th century. The Antwerp printshop remained active after the death of Maria Strang in 1672/3, but it is unclear exactly which heirs of Maarten Binnart continued to publish the newspaper. The last known issue of Den ordinarissen postilioen appeared in 1678 and was printed by Jacobus de Bodt, an Antwerp printer of whom very little is known